I’m always on the lookout for illustrations of how different families build different family cultures.
Your “normal” in your family was probably quite different from other families regarded as “normal.”
A young man raised his hand in a class I was teaching recently. He said he had an illustration of exactly what I was talking about. He told of being invited to spend the night with a new friend from school.
The two boys were playing video games in a room designed for that purpose and the plan was to be up late and sleep in the next morning.
“My new friend’s dad came into the games room very late and hugged my friend and kissed him on the forehead and told him he loved him and that he’d see him in the morning and to have a great night playing games. When his dad left, he also said goodnight to me, I thought someone in the family had died. I asked my new friend if everything was ok. He could not understand my question. I told him that if my dad came and hugged me and said goodnight and that he loved me I would think there was really something bad going on.”
“My dad does that every night,” my new friend said.
difficultrelationships.com 